This is the promising find of a multicentre, randomized, parallel-group,
placebo-controlled, double-blind, dosage-ranging trial of 80 patients with early
Parkinson's disease who did not require treatment. The patients received either
placebo or coenzyme Q10 at dosages of 300, 600 or 1200 mg/d.

Clifford Shults, MD, said, "Coenzyme Q10 was safe and well
tolerated at dosages of up to 1200 mg/d. Less disability developed in subjects
assigned to coenzyme Q10 than in those assigned to placebo." He
added that the benefit was greatest in subjects receiving the highest dosage.
" Coenzyme Q10 appears to slow the progressive deterioration of
function in Parkinson's disease, but these results need to be confirmed in a
larger study." Dr Shults is based at the Department of Neurosciences,
University of California, Dan Diego, La Jolla California and was lead
investigator of the study.